Alliance and Treachery
by Victor Drake
Summary: Diplomacy and war in a faraway galaxy.
1. Chapter 1

At the outer edge of a star system, five starships hung motionless in space. Far from the orange star and its single life-bearing planet, the ships were clustered beside a region of space which would be unremarkable to a casual observer. Only if the observer had access to advanced sensor data would he (she,it) be able to discern the faint gravitational distortion near their gathering place.  
  
The ships were bristling with weapons and defensive systems, optimized for combat. One was much smaller than the others, barely more than a third of their size, and of a very different design. Even a casual observer would be likely to guess that this ship had not been made by minds which thought, or hands which moved, in the same way as the ones which had crafted the others.  
  
Three of the larger vessels were standing off a good 4 LS sunward from the twisted knot in spacetime. On the other side, a quarter light-second outsystem from the anomaly, their sister ship sat just a few hundred kilometers from the foreign craft. On these two ships, the representatives of the races which had built the disparate craft held their talks.  
  
Comm lasers flashed back and forth between the pair almost continuously. This had been going on for three months since the language barrier had been breached, a task which took the better part of a year in itself. But what followed after was proving even more difficult.  
  
In the conference room on the destroyer Zlond, nine members of the Buri contact team were seated on one side of a long table. On the opposite side, a wide vidscreen showed a starscape and the tiny alien ship. At the far right sat the elderly Admiral Vrett, the senior member of the contact team. To his left, the others were arranged in order of descending status. At the end of the row, a young female was talking quietly with the older male on her right.  
  
"I'm beginning to wonder if they want trade at all, Deln." Oontl confided. "I know the proverbial devil's in the details, but this is absurd."  
  
Her companion sipped his kofi and nodded. "I know what you mean. We've been at this for months, and we're no closer to an agreement than when we started." Seeing his mug was empty, he waved at a steward who had just entered with a fresh pitcher.  
  
"They got a drone this morning, maybe something..." Oontl continued.  
  
"Six." The steward interjected, refilling Deln's mug.  
  
"Say what?"  
  
"Six drones. Must be important news." Oontl held out her mug, and the steward filled it. "The Reebos must..."  
  
"Don't call them that!" Oontl snapped. "I'm sure you've been told this before."  
  
"Sorry, Sir." the young male returned insincerely. He was saved from further chastisement by a gesture from farther up the table.  
  
Oontl sent a disgusted look in the direction of the departing steward. "Still, with the Reebos. I swear, it's like beating my head against a bulkhead."  
  
Privately, Oontl had to admit the remarkable resemblance between the Peshf and the popular toy/cartoon/holovid game characters her son's generation seemed so taken with. In particular, Dreflys, the Peshf ambassador, reminded her of Rann the Sea Prince. But the Peshf had a warrior culture that placed great stress on personal honor. If any of them heard a Burian suggesting that they thought of the Peshf as a children's plaything, Buria might easily find itself at war.  
  
No-one on the contact team mentioned the Reebos, but irritatingly, many of the regular ship's crew seemed unable to grasp how horribly offensive it would be, and continued to refer to them as Reebos. The contact team realized that once trade was opened, the Peshf would eventually learn of the characters, but they wanted to have a formal treaty in place before they did. Once the Peshf made a pact, they'd honor it.  
  
Oontl downed her kofi and rubbed her eyes as she waited for the mild stimulant in the bitter beverage to take effect. The strain of the last few days was catching up with her. Both sides had expressed an interest in trade, but progress was glacial. The contact team had been working long hours all week, trying to finalize negotiations before the next crew rotation.  
  
Oontl sighed. "I'm getting too old for this."  
  
Deln chuckled. "Well, if you're too old, what does that make me?"  
  
Before Oontl could answer, a chime sounded to announce the hour. The next scheduled talk was about to begin. Buri negotiators straightened up and stewards were waved away. A moment later, the vidscreen changed to show a real-time view of the meeting room on the other vessel, where Peshf officials were looking at a similar view of them. It was the next best thing to a face-to-face meeting.  
  
Oontl searched the faces of the Peshf contact team for clues about their state of mind today. They were so hard to predict. Their seemingly random mood swings insured that dealing with them was never boring.  
  
With their slender, elfin appearance and childlike visages beneath hair dyed in various pastel colors, it would be easy for one unfamiliar with them to think they were as soft and cuddly as the cartoon characters they resembled. But Oontl knew this was not so. Twice during the negotiations, a new member of the Peshf contact team had suddenly arrived to replace one killed in a duel. They were so sensitive about their honor...  
  
After the usual formal greetings and empty compliments, Ambassador Dreflys began to speak. The words the Burians heard were in a flat, mechanical voice, and the sounds did not at all match the movements of the speaker's mouth. Oontl listened carefully to the computer's translation.  
  
Amazing! After months of talks that were getting approximately nowhere, it had begun to seem they were just going through the motions. Now the Peshf offered not just (restricted) trade, but a defensive alliance as well! Almost every point of disagreement was to be resolved in favor of the Burian's stated preferences. The Peshf were even willing to allow the Burians to establish a permanent military presence on the far side of the wormhole, something they had adamantly refused before now.  
  
'What's the catch?' Oontl wondered silently. Soon, she had her answer. A system at the edge of Peshf space had been invaded by unknown hostiles. The Peshf defenders had chased out the initial probe, but when the invaders returned in force, they had been forced to flee before overwhelming numbers. The Peshf were asking the Burians for miliary aid.  
  
The view on the lower half of the vidscreen changed. The Burians watched the images of warships, identifiably Peshf designs, fleeing before a larger fleet. Oontl looked over the sensor readouts of the invaders. Fourteen destroyers! That was more than Buria had in it's entire navy. The attacking fleet was huge, with nearly thirty corvettes, and a pair of unbeleivable behemoths each twice as large as a Buri destroyer. The invading fleet outmassed the entire Buri navy by more than 30%. The Peshf wanted them to help fight THIS?  
  
********  
  
Not long after the meeting, Admiral Vrett began transmitting his report to the capitol. Even at lightspeed it would take nearly five hours to reach Buria.  
  
Vrett had analyzed the tactical data provided by the Peshf representatives. The sensor readings revealed quite a bit about the capabilities of both the Peshf and their enemy.  
  
The Peshf designs were exclusively of escort and frigate sizes, hull types the Buri navy had long since abandoned as inefficient. But their speed was phenomenal. With no indication of de-tuning effects, the Peshf fleet demonstrated speed 16% greater than the Buri's own corvettes, and using larger hulls.  
  
The aggressor fleet was made up of corvettes and destroyers, like the Burians themselves preferred, with the addition of the two giants. The admiralty had been asking the His Majesty to approve funding to develop a new design 50% larger than the destroyers which now formed the heaviest elements of the Buri navy, but His Majesty had been unwilling to spend so much on a ship which was projected to be 20% slower than the DDs. These alien heavy ships were the _same_ speed as the Buri DDs, and _100%_ larger.  
  
At the capitol, Vrett knew, well-trained military minds would analyze the data, and make their recommendations. Unfortunately, the actual decisions would be made by those fortunate enough to be born into aristocratic families, and their smarmy sycophants.  
  
In the royal council chambers, the debate lasted all afternoon and well into the night. His Majesty listened to everyone before issuing his edict.  
  
The minister of state held out the most conservative opinion: Let the Peshf fight their own wars. Buria should not antagonize these unknowns who might be far more powerful than this one observed fleet. And how did they know the Peshf didn't start this war in the first place? They were known to be combative and sensitive to insult. Buria should begin expanding its fleet in case the unknowns came to their gates next, but do nothing to provoke them.  
  
The minister of defense argued for a more proactive stance: It would be foolish to stay at home and just hope this threat would go away. If the unknowns defeated the Peshf, Buria might be next. Certainly His Majesty should at least want to get more information about them, to better prepare their defenses. And, even if the enemy was powerful enough to defeat the Peshf and Buri fleets separately, they might not be able to defeat a combined fleet.  
  
But it was the humble minister of culture whose argument found the most favor with His Majesty: A contact team should be sent to open a dialogue with the unknown race. Perhaps they could mediate an end to hostilities. Perhaps these "invaders" could become a new ally.  
  
Nineteen hours after the Peshf negotiators had extended their proposal, Vrett delivered His Majesty's answer. A treaty was signed, pledging mutual defense and restricted trade. The treaty contained a clause specifying that the Burians would attempt to make peaceful contact with the race currently occupying the system designated by the Peshf as A-120, in hopes of mediating an end to hostilities. If the invaders were not receptive to such communication, then Buria would enter the war as allies of the Peshf.  
  
Twelve days later, five Buri destroyers, eighteen corvettes, and four unarmed explorers arrived from the homeworld to join the four destroyers already at the wormhole. Small craft transferred crew persons and supplies between the ships.  
  
Soon after, the Peshf vessel moved a short distance and then vanished, followed by seven of the destroyers, fourteen corvettes, and the four explorers. The two destroyers and four corvettes left behind took up position 2 LS sunward from the wormhole, and settled down to wait.  
  
Over fifteen light-years away, in a lifeless red star system, space rippled. 132 LM from the dim sun, ships appeared one by one. Three of these, a destroyer and two corvettes, moved away from the spatial distortion for only a minute, then reduced their drives to station-keeping levels to stand guard over it. The rest of the vessels joined the three Peshf escorts which waited nearby. Together they moved away from the ruddy primary toward the system's other wormhole, much farther from the star.  
  
From two of the escorts, tiny drones separated and raced ahead to inform the main Peshf fleet of their allies' fleet strength and ETA. The drones soon left the sensor envelope of the warfleet. The drones would arrive in less than four days, if they didn't get lost after transit. The slower fleet, moving at a pace set by the six Buri destroyers, would take nearly fifteen days.  
  
********  
  
On the command deck of the destroyer Zlond, the venerable Admiral Vrett struggled to maintain his composure. He didn't want his crew to see him throw up again, like he had when the fleet traversed the first wormhole. At least this time he had known what he was in for. Swallowing hard, he waited for the dizzy, nauseous feeling to fade. Looking around the command deck, Vrett thought most of the bridge crew were either not as strongly affected, or hiding it better.  
  
How did the Peshf stand it? Maybe, as he remembered someone suggesting, they weren't affected in the same way. If they were, it was damn thoughtless of them not to warn the Burians about it.  
  
Vrett looked at the monitor next to his command chair. "Computer, tactical display." The colorful mishmash his screen displayed in response to this order was unenlightening. The admiral stifled a curse and looked to the aft science station. "Steft! Get those sensors working!"  
  
"Rebooting now, Sir," replied Lieutenant Steft. "You should have a readout in--yes, here it is."  
  
Vrett frowned at the nearly blank display. No star, no planets. Nothing but his task force and the Peshf escorts. It was just as the Peshf commander had told them. The scientists back home had said it would be impossible for a wormhole to form in the abscence of a nearby stellar mass. But these were the same people who, just a year ago, hadn't a clue wormholes were possible, period.  
  
If the information the Peshf had given them was right, the next system would be the one in which they would meet the enemy. Unknowns, he corrected himself. His orders were to regard the mission as a first contact with a potential new ally, until proven otherwise. Those were Vrett's orders, but he didn't like them. Letting the aggressors get off the first shot would likely doom his command. He would be facing nearly three times the tonnage of his task force, and evidently superior technology. Even if the Peshf contingent was twice the size of his own, it would be an uphill battle.  
  
The course to the next wormhole had already been programmed into the computer. Vrett gave the order, and the task force began moving toward its destination.  
  
The Buri vessels and their Peshf allies moved slowly through the void. They were watched, but they did not see the watchers. Even if they had carried capital sensor suites like the ones the watchers were using, they would not have been able to detect the hidden taskforce. With their engines shut down, they were all but invisible.  
  
Long after the allied fleet had passed out of their scanner range, they waited, to be sure there would be no chance of their being detected when they moved.  
  
Days passed.  
  
At last, the ships powered up their engines and moved into position. Directly along the path between the allied fleet and the spatial distortion through which it had arrived, the stealthy ships strung out in a line 15 LS wide. Once again they powered down their engines and resumed waiting.  
  
And watching.  
  
********  
  
Vrett looked at the tactical display again. The last of the Peshf escorts, sixteen in all, were just vanishing through the wormhole. Next would be the his corvettes, his destroyers, and finally the four Peshf frigates.  
  
After nearly a month, cruising across two foreign systems (if you could call this empty patch of space a "system"), they had arrived at the wormhole to A-120, where the Peshf fleet was waiting for them. This was the day Vrett had been waiting for. Soon, Buria would begin either a new dialog with a second neighbor, or its first interstellar war.  
  
He had plotted out every imaginable scenario that might transpire on the other side of that third wormhole. A new friend. A new enemy. A glorious victory, the culmination of his career. His ignominious death. All these possibilities and more had occupied his thoughts these past weeks. But what was actually to come was something he had never imagined. Never prepared for.  
  
The explorers had already confirmed there was no ambush waiting on the other side. Vrett had worried about that. With the wormhole forcing his ships to come in one at a time, and degrading the performance of both their crew and technology, trying to attack a defended position there would be almost impossible. As disturbing as it was to imagine having to attack that way, he was comforted by the thought that if the aliens were hostile, he could retreat through the wormhole and force THEM to do it.  
  
Vrett held his breath and steeled himself for the transit. Silently, he vowed to himself that if he should live through this mission and return to the home system, he would retire, and never go near another wormhole.  
  
The system known (to the Peshf, at least) as A-120 was located inside a huge cloud of hot gas and dust. The energetic particles filled every part of local space, except where the magnetic fields of planets fenced them out.  
  
The massive blue-white primary had no satellites, but the dimmer yellow star 192 LM away was surrounded by two asteroid fields and four planets. One planet was too close to the sun to be useful to anyone, its atmosphere blasted away by solar wind, laying it bare to radiation from the star and the surrounding nebula. The next two were a diferrent story. With temperate, oxygen-rich atmospheres and protective magnetic fields to shield the surfaces from radiation, their land masses and oceans were teeming with life. Farther away, a single gas giant circled in the space between the two asteroid rings.  
  
On the opposite side of the system from the yellow star was a cluster of ships. Minute by minute, more ships appeared, seemingly from nowhere. As soon as each ship arrived, its shields immediately failed, disrupted by the particles of the nebula. When the last of them had arrived in the system, they began moving toward the distant yellow star and its life-bearing worlds.  
  
Ahead of the main force, four unarmed explorers and four escorts spread out in a crescent to search for hidden threats. This task was made more difficult by the "white noise" emitted by the nebula, so the scouts kept a closer formation than they might otherwise have done, a mere 7.5 LS from the main group and half that from each other. The 6 DD and 12 CT of the Buri force were bunched together with the 4 Peshf FG and the 12 remaining ES, which did not have good enough sensors to be useful as scouts.  
  
Aboard the Buri warships, crew members watched the scanners in case something slipped past the advance scouts. They were alert for possible threats approaching from beyond the reduced range of their sensors. They never thought they would need to worry about the ships already on their scanners, flying in formation with them.  
  
The Burians were caught completely flatfooted when the Peshf suddenly opened fire. They had been relaxed, expecting a few uneventful days of cruising to the planets or, at worst, an attack that would come with several minutes' advance warning from the scouts. Only two destroyers and four corvettes were at semi-alert status.  
  
The Peshf commander had ordered that Vrett's flagship be the first to die. The streams of charged particles that lashed out from the Peshf energy beams were not impeded by the targets' armor, and the nebula had already taken care of their shields. Every piece of military hardware on the command DD was fried by the energy beams, leaving it drifting, with only the armor to hold the hull together. After the eight beams carried by the frigates disabled the Buri command ship, each escort fited it's side- mounted beam at a different CT, in an effort to strip their external ordinance before it could be used. Ten of the shots hit, stripping the targets' XO and destroying 2/3 of their engines, along with the magazines.  
  
Two corvettes managed to return fire, each launching a standard missile and a sprint missile from internal launchers, and two standards from their XO racks, just before the XO was destroyed. One Peshf frigate was struck by 2 G and 4 R shots, blasting through its armor, hold, and 60% of its engines, but leaving its weapons intact.  
  
Burians scrambled to reach battlestations. Without the flagship, their reaction time was slowed just enough that the damaged Peshf frigate got to fire its weapons before itself being fired upon. Both beams hit, and one Buri DD lost about half of its internal systems, and all its XO. Then the two active Buri CTs demolished the offending FG. While Buri crewers struggled to get their weapons on-line, Peshf energy beams continued to fire, finishing off the damaged DD the two active CTs, and blasting the XO and forward engines of the 2 CTs that were missed last time.  
  
Finally, the two destroyers which had been on alert managed to get themselves into the fight. Each DD targeted a different ES with two standard and two sprint missiles, and flushed 4 more standards each from ther XO racks. One escort was lucky, and lived with one engine (but nothing else) intact. The other ES vanished in a flash of nuclear fire.  
  
The Burians launched every courier drone they had left. Twenty-four drones raced off toward the wormhole, carrying word of the Peshf treachery to the Buri taskforce in the red star system adjacent to the home system.  
  
Sixty seconds after the Peshf opened fire, The Burians had 4 DD left intact, two active. All 12 CT had lost their XO, magazine, and two of their three engines. The Peshf had lost 1 FG and 1 ES, and a second ES was crippled.  
  
The remaining destroyers scattered. One charged straight ahead, one turned in either direction, and one slowed its movement and began modulating its engines. They wanted to acheive greater separation, so that the Peshf couldn't deal the devastating point-blank E-beam damage to all their ships. Unfortunately, two still hadn't got their engines fully powered up, so they only got 1 LS from the sluggish corvette group.  
  
The Peshf force also divided. One FG and one ES dogged each fleeing DD, staying at point-blank range. Seven ES stayed with the damaged CTs, turning at the last second to keep the EM-ing DD in their firing arc. The one crippled ES performed a 180' turn and began trying to exit the fray.  
  
Two R and two G missiles shot out from a Buri DD at its pursuers. The ES was chosen as its target, sensors having shown that the Peshf ES were very lightly armored and had most of their engines up front. All weapons locked on, and the ES was out of the fight, with nothing but an engine left. The other active DD, EM-ing behind the CT group, shot at an escort at range .25 LS, the longest-ranged shot yet in this fight. But the gunners performed miserably, scoring with only one sprint missile. The armor and hold of the ES were destroyed, but no other damage was done.  
  
The Peshf fired at the fleeing DDs. The foremost (and active) one was hit by one bean from the FG following it, having already disposed of the ES, and lost only its datalink, a magazine, and one engine. The other two (inactive) DDs were not so lucky. Each was struck by two beams from a FG and one from an ES, destroying half their internal launchers, all their XO racks, and 60% of their engines.  
  
By the time the third exchange of fire was over, six of the remaining CT had fully activated. They traded shots with the 7 ES grouped around them, each ship trying to get their shots off before losing their weapons. The ES damaged by the lagging DD was destroyed, along with another ES in the main group. The last CT to activate split its fire, sending a standard missile at one crippled ES and a sprint missile at the other. Despite the degradation in fire control for dividing the shots between two targets, both ships were destroyed.  
  
In the time it took to do this, however, the Buri CTs were clobbered. 5 of 7 beams from the ES group hit, and 5 of the active CTs were left weaponless cripples.  
  
The new Buri flagship acheived effective command control just in time to recieve the Peshf commander's demand for surrender. Nine Buri ships had at least some weapons left, and 1 DD was intact, but the superiority of the Peshf force was overwhelming. The Burians could not even hope to outrun the faster J-engine vessels. The situation was hopeless.  
  
Seeing that the perfidious Peshf were intent on capturing prizes, the Buri commander ordered all remaining ships to scuttle. Two DD and 4 CT obeyed, ejecting masses of life pods before detonating. The crews of the remaining vessels, overcome with panic and despair, surrendered. The Peshf marines soon boarded and secured them.  
  
For a cost of 5 ES and 1 FG destroyed, the attack had netted eight damaged corvettes, three of them with working weapons, and four destroyers, two of them hulks, one with some working systems left, and one INTACT! The four ES out ahead on advance scout duty were chasing down the Buri EX, and their 33% speed advantage insured that it would present no difficulty.  
  
Once the prizes were secure, a drone was sent to the transit carriers waiting 36 LM off to the side of the course the fleet had been following prior to the fight. In a day, most of the captured ships would be loaded onto the carriers and on their way back to the Peshf home system and its shipyards. Most of them.  
  
Unfortunately, there were not enough transit carriers to haul them all back in one trip. The Peshf had underestimated the number of captures they would make. The prey had fought weakly. Most of them (cowards!) had not even carried out their final order to scuttle. Two CT hulks would be left drifting until a carrier could return for them.  
  
They watched. They waited.  
  
In a starless region of space, four frigates and two corvettes were strung out in a line across the path the Buri drones would have to take to reach their destination. When the corvettes' capital sensors detected the approach of the drones 15 LS away, the FG were signalled to stand ready. By the time the nine drones got to them (the rest having gotten lost after transit), their weapons and engines were fully powered and crewers were at their posts. The drones were hard to hit, but the gunners had plenty of time to keep trying until they got them. The frigates' maximum combat speed was the same as the drones' speed. None reached the wormhole to the red star system. No warning would be recieved.  
  
End Chapter 1  
  
Ship designs:  
  
Buri DD  
  
S1x3 Ax3 ZaH(I)Mg(I)GbRbQa(I)Mg(I)YaRbGbDa(I)Qa  
  
Sx3 Ax3 Gbx2 Rbx2 Dax1 (Ia)  
  
Buri CT  
  
S1x3 A H(I)Mg(I)YaRbGb(I)Qa  
  
Sx3 Ax1 Gbx1 Rbx1 (Ia)  
  
Peshf FG(e)  
  
SSSAAAHQa(J)(J)(J)EbEbQa(J)(J)  
  
Sx3 Ax3 Ebx2 (Ja)  
  
Peshf ES  
  
SSAH(J)(J)QaEb(J)  
  
Sx2 Ax1 Ebx1 (Ja) 


	2. Chapter 2

Month 38, Day 12  
  
In the lifeless red star system designated (on Peshf charts) D-136, a contingent of Buri ships kept watch over the wormhole leading to their home system. Six corvettes were stationed in a circle 15 LS out, forming a wide sensor net to catch sight of any approaching vessel. Three destroyers sat right on the wormhole, ready to respond with force if needed.  
  
It was now more than a month since Vrett's taskforce had departed. No word had come back since the fleet transited into A-120, so tension was high.  
  
That tension was ratcheted up several notches when the corvette Ndoza reported an incoming drive contact. The first of the Peshf trade ships were not expected for more than two weeks, and no advance hail had come in from the approaching vessels. The active watch destroyer sent out a hail, but it drew no response, nor did an IFF query.  
  
As the unresponsive vessels approached, the Burians recalled their other five CT to the wormhole and geared up for battle. Admiral Glanp, roused from his bed, arrived on the bridge just as the bogeys crossed into the Ndoza's medium detection range. The Admiral frowned at the scanner readout. The hull sizes were ES, FG, and a large ship class half again the size of a DD. These were not consistent with the enemy fleet composition described in his mission briefing. They WERE consistent (except for the big ships) with the known composition of Peshf forces.  
  
At this range, he couldn't get a good enough reading on the drive emmision signature to positively identify the incoming vessels, but their lack of response to hails and IFF queries was tantamount to a declaration of hostility.  
  
Glanp would have engaged them then and there, but his force was clearly outmatched. Against 6xCL, 11xFG, and 19xES, his own fleet was inadequate. He ordered the fleet to withdraw through the wormhole.  
  
Glanp would rather not engage a force which outmassed him by nearly 300%, but he didn't have the option of running away. The enemy force was moving as fast as his corvettes could, so his destroyers weren't getting away, and if the smaller ships were faster than the large ones, as was true with the Buri ships, they would be able to overtake and destroy his CT even if they abandoned the slower DD.  
  
So the Buri fleet would meet the enemy at the wormhole. After experiencing the effects of transit a few times, and reading the notes Vrett had appended to his last drone, Glanp saw the advantage he could gain there. He would let the enemy come to him single file, and take advantage of their disorientation as they transited.  
  
Month 38, Day 13  
  
As much as Glanp wasn't looking forward to the coming battle, he wished the enemy would just attack and get it over with. After hours of waiting, exhaustion had forced the Buri defenders to stand down from battlestations. Glanp had had to revert to normal watch rotations to keep at least part of his force alert for when the attack finally came.  
  
As soon as the fleet had returned to the home system, Glanp had sent off a report to the capitol. At lightspeed, it would be arriving in about half an hour from now. Surely by the time any reinforcements could arrive, the battle here would be long since decided.  
  
Glanp had his forces waiting 3 LS out-system from the wormhole, figuring the aggressor fleet would likely come through facing sunward, expecting the defenders to be there and allowing the Burians a shot at their blindspot.  
  
He was almost right. When the ships came through, they were facing 60 degrees from sunward, 120 degrees away from Glanp's force. One cruiser came in, with an escort hot on its heels, then four frigates followed. None of the ships moved off the wormhole at first. The cruiser stayed on its initial heading, while the smaller ships began turning toward the defenders.  
  
Buri crewers scrambled to their posts, but no units acheived full readiness in the first 30 seconds. The intruders did not fire either, most likely due to the effects of having just transited.  
  
The defenders turned 60 degrees and began moving forward at minimum speed, just enough to validate the corvettes' EM. The DD did not yet have enough engine power to perform EM and still move. Though the Burians didn't realize it, even the scant .25 LS they had just moved put them into the blindspot of the incoming enemy cruisers. The CL from the first wave was forced to turn to keep them in its firing arc.  
  
The second wave consisted of three cruiser/escort pairs. As it came in, the cruiser from the first wave launched a drone back through the wormhole. 4xFG and 1xES from the first wave turned toward the defenders. The escort got down to 2.25 LS, then waited, seeing no point in charging down into sprint missile range alone. The FG took forever to turn, so they were at 2.5, 2.75, and the last two at 3 LS, one still not having completed its turn.  
  
The lead cruiser fired some kind of plasma weapon, targeting a CT. Two of the three torpedoes hit, destroying the target's sheilds and armor.  
  
Most of the defenders were still not fully active. The lone DD and two CT which were on alert duty did get into the battle, though. They directed all of their fire at the lead FG. Four internal and eight XO missiles scored a total of seven hits. No point-defense activity was evident, and the target was left shieldless and leaking air, but not slowed.  
  
The closest enemy ships were now near enough for the Buri sensors to confirm that the drive signature was Peshf. This information was added to the datastream being sent back to the capitol.  
  
The third wave came in facing the right way, thanks to the drone launched earlier. The first FG rushed past the escorts from the previous wave, which were still turning, but the other five frigates joined the cruiser group. The defenders continued minimal forward movement, the DDs now EMing and the two active CT using double EM.  
  
Ninety seconds into the assault, attacking ships were strung out in a line from the wormhole to the defenders' position. The 5 FG ranged from .75 to 1.75 LS, while there were ES at .25, 1.25, 2, and 2.5 LS. 4xCL and 5xFG were bunched up right on the wormhole, firing plasma torpedoes.  
  
The two off-watch destroyers activated and fired as a datapair. 3 sprint missiles and 13 standard missiles struck home, obliterating the damaged FG before it could fire. The three other active ships had no XO left, but made the nearest escort the target of their missiles, destroying it just after it fired.  
  
The one CT which had taken plasma fire last turn was targeted by seven energy beams from varying ranges, including that of the doomed ES. All its weapons and engines were destroyed.  
  
From the cruiser group, twelve plasma torpedoes scored five hits, stripping the passives from the two active CT and slowing one. The targets' wildly modulated DF did not seem to have any effect on the torpedoes' accuracy. The five plasma frigates, still struggling with transit effects, hit nothing.  
  
Now that all their ships had at least gotten their engines fully powered, if not their weapons, the Buri fleet dropped EM and turned away from the approaching beam ships. After running 1 LS, they turned back to keep their pursuers out of their blindspot. One CT, having lost an engine to plasma warheads, fell a quarter LS behind the main group. The Peshf gave chase, and the beam frigates ended up at .25 LS to 1 LS, with the ES .25 , 1, and 1.5 LS. The plasma ships kept to their preferred range of 3 LS while the fourth wave of Peshf warships, two CL/ES pairs, a plasma FG, and another ES, entered behind them.  
  
Two more CT added their fire to the mix, flushing their XO. Ships on both sides tried to fire before losing weapons. The Buri missiles demolished the nearest ES, then turned on the lead FG and blasted it to scrap.  
  
The plasma ships targeted the Buri destroyers, switching targets as soon as the current one's shields failed. The destroyers' point defense stopped some of the incoming shots, but in short order all 3 DD had lost shields.  
  
Two minutes after the first transits, the Burians had 2xCT intact and firing, 1xCT intact but not active, 3xDD lightly damaged, and 3xCT weaponless, drifting cripples. The Peshf had 6xCL, 6xFG(p), 3xFG(e), and 5xES, all intact. The Burians had destroyed 2xFG(e) and 2xES.  
  
The Buri force was caught now. The destroyers, unable to move away and still turn back in time, reverted to using EM and turned in three different directions to cover each others' blindspot. The corvettes moved .5 LS to the far side of the DD group, then turned back to bring their weapons to bear. The Peshf, with their superior speed, closed rapidly. Even the plasma ships, sensing the end, closed in. 2xES and 3xFG slipped into one DD's blindspot at .25 LS, and the plasma ships stopped at 2.25 LS. The three ES which had entered in the last wave closed to .75, 1.5, and 2 LS (from the DD group) respectively, and behind them another 6 ES were coming in and starting toward the defenders, but nobody on either side expected the Burians to be alive when they got there.  
  
The last Buri CT finally got its weapons online, adding their weight to the dwindling Buri fullisade. All the remaining Buri ships concentrated on one of the the FG(e), except the one whose blindspot they were in, which shot at the ES at .75 LS.  
  
After the first DD fired, a point-blank energy salvo from the targeted FG took out half the weapons on a second DD. In retaliatiion, the third DD mauled an onrushing ES, hitting with all of its weapons and slowing the tiny attacker greatly. A second FG tried to disable the wounded DD's remaining weapons before it could fire, but thanks partly to the embattled ship's EM, it missed one of its shots and killed only an engine, a magazine, and a crew module.  
  
By the time the exchange was over, the remaining beam ships had reduced the DD to a drifting hulk, and missiles from the CT left the damaged FG weaponless and barely moving. The plasma ships punished them for the offense, though. With a stunning display of marksmanship, they hit with eighteen of twenty-four shots, and all three corvettes, lacking the point defense which had somewhat protected their larger brethren, were rendered inert, with nothing but their crew modules surviving the damage.  
  
It was almost over for the Buri defenders, and they knew it. The 2 remaining destroyers had only lost shields and taken minor armor damage, but all the rest of the Buri force had been taken out of action. With 2xFG and 2xES behind them, and along line of Peshf ES streaming in from the wormhole, plus the plasma ships, Glanp did not expect to survive the next exchange. He sent an order to the other DD to make the two damaged Peshf vessels priority targets for what would surely be their last shot, and watched as the missiles went out. The FG was eradicated by a sprint hit, but the sprint missile directed at the ES went wide, and the standard missile which did hit was not enough to finish it.  
  
As Glanp was about to give the order to fire on the crippled ES, energy beams flashed out from one of the FG behind him, tearing into his ship and putting half its weapons out of commission. Glanp's last act of defiance before his officers dragged him off to a life pod was to was to see to the destruction of the escort.  
  
A few seconds later, it was done. After the Peshf beams rendered Glanp's flagship inert, the other DD was destroyed by plasma fire. The total damage to the Peshf fleet from the battle was 3xFG(e) and 3xES.  
  
As Peshf marines moved to secure the cripples, 2 corvettes scuttled, leaving 2xDD and 3xCT as prizes. Glanp watched helplessly from his escape pod as the Peshf brought in transit carriers to take away the prizes, and ammunition colliers to replenish the plasma ships' magazines before proceeding in-system.  
  
Month 38, Day 25  
  
As the Peshf fleet closed on the Buri homeworld, the Admiralty had no information on their position or ETA. The two unarmed explorer vessels they had diverted from survey duty to shadow the approahing fleet were dispatched by fast-moving escorts. Given the slower engines used by the Burians, it was impossible to keep the range open once detected, and the Peshf sensors were at least as good as their own.  
  
The 3xDD and 6xCT of the Royal Homeguard waited for the inevitable. Along with them were a single DD and two CT which were fresh from the yards, still shaking down. These twelve ships, and the massive space station, were all that stood between the treacherous aliens and the glittering jewel that was Buria.  
  
When the enemy closed to 30 LS, they appeared on the planetary sensor net. The word was passed to the planet's defenders, and their weapons and defenses were made ready to repel the Peshf assault.  
  
The aliens stayed well out of the station's extended missile range as they circled around to the other side of the planet. At first the Homeguard did not see the purpose of the maneuver, but then the Peshf made it all too clear. Placing the planet directly between themselves and the Buri station, the fleet began its approach. The station turned its large armed modules toward the Peshf, but with the planet obstructing their line of fire, they could do nothing.  
  
From the information sent by Glanp, the Homeguard knew that many of the enemy's short-range weapon ships had been destroyed. Planetary sensors were showing 6xCL, 8xFG, and 16xES, exactly what had survived the battle at the wormhole. There were no reinforcements. The cruisers and six of the frigates were torpedo boats, the other two FG and the escorts were beamships.  
  
Since most of the enemy's power was in long-range weapons, the Homeguard commander figured they'd want to engage his ships from a distance and make him close through their range, but he saw no need to oblige them. If they wanted to use the planet for cover, well, two could play at that game.  
  
The Homeguard ships moved to a position right between Buria and the station. If the enemy wanted to engage, they'd have to come out from behind the planet, and face the station.  
  
The Peshf fleet closed, still using the planet as cover. The Homeguard commander expected them to come straight in, so that they could blast the station from knife-fighting range with their powerful beam weapons. He was thinking that he would wait until they got to about 2 LS or so, then come out and engage with his sprint missile batteries.  
  
The Peshf, however, were having none of it. When they got to a range of 3.5 LS from the planet, they stopped. For nearly a minute, the Homeguard watched them on the relay from the planetary sensors. Then the Peshf fleet started to turn. Were they going to withdraw? Surely they wouldn't come all this way and then just turn and leave.  
  
A moment later, they had their answer. The plasma ships opened fire at the planet. Twenty-four torpedoes rained down on the cities of Buria, destroying industrial facilities and population centers.  
  
The Homeguard commander was so shocked at this barbaric atrocity that at first he did not react. The civilian population of Buria was subjected to a second barrage of plasma fire before the Homeguard ships came out in the open and hastened toward the murderous Peshf.  
  
If he had been better informed about the capabilities of the Peshf plasma weapon, he might have thought better of this move. The Peshf did not have enough ammunition to do much damage this way before being forced to withdraw and reload their magazines. But he was sworn to defend the world below and could not stand idly by while her people were massacred.  
  
The Buri force came around the planet and charged the Peshf fleet at their best speed, but the Peshf were prepared for this. The attacking fleet turned and ran, then turned again to keep the enemy in their firing arc. The cruisers opened the range by 1.25 LS, the lighter ships by 1.5 LS.  
  
Buri missiles and Peshf torpedoes crossed paths in space as both sides launched their salvoes. The Peshf concentrated their fire on the corvettes, seeing no need to let the destroyers' point defense reduce their effectiveness. After seeing a drive fluctiation, the Peshf would move on to the next target. Two CT lost passives and an engine, and a third target's sheilds were weakened.  
  
The Buri destroyers were not yet close enough to use their XO, though the CT could fire theirs at the cruisers. Nine missiles found their target, and one CL was relieved of its shields and most of its armor.  
  
Now the Peshf ran away at an angle, passing briefly through the station's fire zone but moving beyond its range before the defenders could do anything about it. At 6.25 LS from Buria, the Peshf fleet formed up and turned their broadside toward their pursuers.  
  
The Burians kept coming, the two damaged CT falling behind. The lead CT group fired from 3.25 LS, the same as before, the damaged CT and the DD group from 3.75 LS.  
  
Again, the range was too great for the DD to fire their XO. Every Buri weapon targeted the same damaged cruiser with all their internal launchers, but only three shots hit. The three new builds may as well not have fired at all. The target was left leaking air, but not seriously hurt.  
  
In reply, the Peshf torpedoes left three more corvettes slowed to two- thirds speed, starting with the one whose shields had been weakened last time. By now they knew they needed three hits to do this, so after a cruiser had gotten a hit or two, they'd move on to the next target and let the frigates finish up.  
  
Now the Peshf were beyond the station's reach, but unable to turn fast enough to keep the range open without exposing their blindspots. They began modulating drive fields to confuse enemy fire while slowly moving forward, keeping the range to Buria the same 6.25 LS as before.  
  
The DD group was finally in range to flush its XO. The same cruiser was targeted, and the Burians were pleased to see the drive field fluctuate. The damaged CL got its shots off just in time; the second DD pair pounded it with enough missiles to reduce its weapon load by two thirds. Three corvettes had managed to get into sprint missile range, barely, and together with the damaged CT strung out behind them, they reduced the defenses of a plasma frigate and left it venting atmosphere.  
  
The plasma ships continued choosing the closest CT as their targets, concentrating on slowing them down. By the time they were done with this third exchange, all of the CT were slowed, and four of them were moving at only a third of their original speed.  
  
Again, the Peshf fleet turned away, opened the range, then turned back. One cruiser, having suffered damage to its engines, was not able to turn back in time to fire its single remaining weapon, so it just ran at its best speed, falling .5 LS behind the main group.  
  
The DD group now overtook the slowed CT, and fired from 2.25 LS. Five of the CT were also at that range, with the other three .5 LS behind.  
  
The Peshf plasma ships, starting with the damaged FG, started in on the destroyers, changing targets once the current one's shields were down. In spite of the DDs' point defense, all four were stripped of their sheilds and some or all of their armor.  
  
The Burians concentrated on the two targets they had already damaged. The cruiser had fallen back far enough to be in sprint missile range, and it was destroyed by a combination of short- and long-ranged missiles. The FG took engine damage, slowing it by almost half.  
  
The Peshf stopped moving. They just sat there and watched the Burians come. The main Buri group had closed the range down to 1.25 LS when the Peshf beam-armed vessels, having lured their opponents outside of the stations' fire zone, suddenly turned toward them. Seeing the danger, the Burians advanced no farther, but the escorts were still able to close down to .25 LS and strafe the now-unsheilded destroyers to devastating effect. The two FG(e) added their fire from .5 LS, but it was the sixteen ES that really spelled doom for the Buri force.  
  
The single intact datapair fired first, hitting with all four sprint missiles and smashing an escort to bits before it could respond. After that it was a melee, single ships blasting away at one another at short range. The wounded FG was dispatched, and one more ES as well. A third ES was hit by a few shots from the straggling CT, but was not badly hurt.  
  
The Burians lost three injured CT to plasma torpedoes, some before they could fire. Three of the four DD were left drifting, E-beam-ravaged derelicts.  
  
Thirty second later it was over. The corvettes were all too slow to do anything but fire off one last futile shot before they died under a hail of plasma torpedoes. The damaged escort was further damaged, leaving it slowed and without a crew support module.  
  
The last DD made a brave but unsuccessful attempt to ram a Peshf cruiser before it, too succumbed to the beams of its enemies. It did manage to hit the cruiser with one standard and two sprint missiles, but damaged only the target's sheilds.  
  
The Peshf fleet withdrew to a good distance and once again called up their ammunition colliers. The four floating DDs were left for now; transit carriers could be brought in later. In a few minutes, the Peshf's shields were restored, and their magazines refilled. There was no hurry. The planet and its station weren't going anywhere.  
  
Again, the Peshf used the planet as cover for their approach. The station could do nothing as they came in. The plasma ships stopped at 2 LS, but the beamships kept on until they were gathered right on the other side of the planet, only .5 LS from the station. Then they struck.  
  
All the Peshf units began modulating their engines, with all but the cruisers using double-EM to reduce enemy fire effectiveness that much further. The plasma ships came out from behind the planet and engaged the station at 2.25 LS, turning to the side so their minimal movement would not alter the range. The beamships came around the planet and turned to bring the escorts' side-arc weapons to bear, firing from .25 LS. The Plasma ships fired first, trying to bring down the sheilds of one station module to open the way for beam fire. The defenders, seeing the beam ships as the greater threat, concentrated on killing as many as they could before that happened.  
  
The range was optimal for sprint missile fire, but between the attackers' modulations and the station gunners' inexperience, fire accuracy was poor. One module hit a FG with 7 of 12 G and 3 of 12 R, blasting the frigate out of existence. The other module facing the attackers did not do quite as well, hitting the other FG(e) with only 6 G and 1 R. Its target survived, but with no weapons left and greatly slowed.  
  
That was it for the stations' fire. While their weapons cycled, plasma rained in at one module, weakening the sheilds. The incoming barrage faced an incredible density of point defense fire. Only eight torpedoes reached the station's sheilds, not enough to allow the Peshf energy beams the opportunity they had hoped for.  
  
The defenders were pleasantly surprised to see that against shields, the beams were not nearly as effective. In the earlier battles, beam ships had fired only at ships whose sheilds had already been knocked down. Twelve of thirteen beams hit the station, and the module's own shields were inadequate to stop the particle beams, but by drawing emergency power from the shields of the unarmed module 3, the damage was contained and no internal systems were lost.  
  
The crippled FG(e) ducked behind the moon to escape the station's wrath, while the thirteen escorts continued double modulation, slowly circling the station at .25 LS. The plasma ships continued as they had before, keeping the range at 2.25 LS while creeping forward to validate their own EM.  
  
This time the station split its fire between three ES, and all three were damaged by Module 1. In the moment before Module 2 finished them off, one damaged ES fired, but the particle beam missed. The plasma fire shifted to the second module, which had just as many point defense emplacements as the first. Seven torpedoes made it through, and the shields held. Ten escorts were left to shoot at the first module, and all ten beams were right on target. Seven of those beams were stopped by shield conversion from the other modules, but then the station's shields were gone, and the remaining beams tore into the weak hull with a vengeance. Nearly a third of the module's weapons were incapacitated.  
  
As the ES continued to circle the station, the defenders were forced to turn to keep their weapons in arc, putting the unarmed Module 3 now facing the plasma ships, and the damaged Module 1 facing away.  
  
Before the Burians could get their next salvo ready, one escort cycled its weapon and blasted the damaged module, cutting further into its weapon load. The injured module targeted a different ES with its remaining weapons. The ES was struck by 4 sprint missiles and one standard, sweeping it from the starfield.  
  
One more escort got a shot off before Module 2 fired, but it fired at the damaged Module 1, so the salvo was full strength. Two ES were picked out as targets, each receiving 6 G and 6 R shots, but the accuracy was worse than before. One ES was hit by 3 G, the other by 2 G and 1 R. Both lost at least one engine, but both still were able to fire.  
  
The remaining ES fired their beams at Module 1, stripping away its remaining weapons and eating into its point defense. The plasma ships fired at Module 2, but between the poor gunnery performance and the unusually accurate point defense, only three torpedoes survived to scuff up the module's armor.  
  
The ES continued circling of the station now brought them directly opposite the planet. Again the station turned with them, and now the plasma ships had no shot at anything but the unarmed Module 3. The damaged escorts were able to keep formation, but only by dropping to single EM in one case and no EM in the other.  
  
The battered station split its fire between the two damaged ES, and one fresh one. Six of ten sprint missiles found their target, and a fresh ES disappeared. Six R and one G were assigned to each of the other two, and enough hits were obtained to destroy them both.  
  
That left only six ES to ravage the station with close-range beam fire, but that was plenty. All six beams swept over the surface of Module 2, causing massive explosions inside the weak hull. More than half of its weapons were destroyed. The plasma ships didn't bother firing, since all they could do would be to damage the armor of the irrelevant Module 3.  
  
The escorts continued to circle while EMing madly, and the station's rotation now brought the defunct Module 1 back around to the plasma ships' side. A quick shot by one of the ES further weakened the station before it could fire, killing two weapons and a few magazines and other unimportant systems.  
  
The station launched its last salvo. 2 G and 1 R impacted a single ES, and its drive field fluctuated. The return fire from the escorts left Module 2 dead, all powered systems having been shorted out by the energy beams of the Peshf.  
  
When Peshf marines moved in to secure the station, the station commander commited one final act of defiance in the face of his tormentors. He activated the auto-destruct and denied them the prize of the Buri shipyard complex, with its partially completed prototype CA.  
  
There was a bright flash of light, many times brighter than the warhead detonations which had been evident throughout the battle. For a moment, the population of the planet below seemed to see two suns in the sky, and then it was gone.  
  
Month 38, Day 27  
  
It had been 42 hours since the station died. Six Peshf plasma frigates circled the planet, standing guard over the fallen kingdom. Below, ground forces made ready to repel the imminent invasion.  
  
Planetary sensors picked up a contact moving in from the direction of the Peshf entry point. Soon, the contact resolved into 160 freighters, each the size of a Peshf ES. The invasion forces had arrived. His Majesty made one last, desperate effort to reach some kind of terms with the victors of the Battle of Buria, but they were not interested in anything short of total, unconditional surrender, which he would not give.  
  
Thirty-two freighters separated from the rest, and entered the atmosphere. Ten minutes later they rose again, minus the troops and equipment carried in their quarters and holds. The 32 freighters returned to the main group, docked with non-atmosphere-capable craft, and began transferring troops and materiel. A few hours later, the FT returned to Buria, and deposited another wave of invaders. The process was repeated again, and again. In less than a day the contents of the freighters were delivered, and they departed.  
  
End chapter 2  
  
  
  
Buri designs:  
  
DD Mk1  
  
S1x3 Ax3 ZaH(I)Mg(I)GbRbQa(I)Mg(I)YaRbGbDa(I)Qa (XOa x4)  
  
S1x3 Ax3 Rbx2 Gbx2 Dax1 XOx4 (Ia)  
  
CT Mk1  
  
S1x3 A H(I)Mg(I)YaRbGb(I)Qa (XOa x2)  
  
S1x3 Ax1 Rbx1 Gbx1 XOx2 (Ia)  
  
SS  
  
Mod1: S1x30 Ax20 ZaHQb [QbMgMg(M1)MgRbGbRbGb]x6 YaQb[Da x7]Qb  
  
Mod2: S1x30 Ax20 ZaHQb [QbMgMg(M1)MgRbGbRbGb]x6 YaQb[Da x7]Qb  
  
Mod3: S1x30 Ax20 ZaHQb YaQb[Da x7]Qb  
  
  
  
Peshf designs:  
  
CL(pt)  
  
SSSSSAAAAAHsMgsMg(J)(JJ)QaMgPtaPtaQa(J)(JJ)MgYaPtaQa(J)(JJ)  
  
Sx5 Ax5 Ptax3 (Ja)  
  
FG(pt)  
  
SSSAAAHsMgsQa(J)Mg(J)(J)YaPtaQa(J)(J)  
  
Sx3 Ax3 Ptax1 (Ja)  
  
FG(e)  
  
SSSAAAHQa(J)(J)(J)EbEbQa(J)(J)  
  
Sx3 Ax3 Ebx2 (Ja)  
  
ES(e)  
  
SSAH(J)(J)QaEb(J)  
  
Sx2 Ax1 Ebx1 (Ja)  
  
ES(y)  
  
SAHYa(J)(J)QaEb(J)  
  
Sx1 Ax1 Ebx1 (Ja) 


	3. Chapter 3

Month 52, Day 4, Burian home system  
  
On the planet of Buria, in the center of the capitol city there stood a grand palace. It had served as a center of government for centuries, first for a small nation-state, then an expanding empire, and then finally, after a series of military conquests and royal marraiges, the entire world. Now it still served as a center of government, administered by the Peshf military governor and his staff.  
  
For over a year, Fleet Commander Thrulb had been that governor. Today, he officially handed over 'power' to the 'leader' of Buria's new puppet government. Buri tradition necessitated a ceremony that was long, elaborate, and dull, but it was over now. Thrulb was finally getting back onto the bridge of a starship.  
  
Thrulb stepped into the gig that would take him to the shiny new command cruiser which was to be his flagship. The pilot eased the craft up a bit, then shot up quickly after clearing the ground.  
  
For 14 months Thrulb had been stuck dirtside, establishing and maintaining political control of Buria during and after the occupation. To advance his family's political interests he had had to do this himself, to take full credit as the Conquerer Of Buria. It was just dumb luck that (then Battle Commander) Thrulb was in command of the fleet assigned to take out Buria's pitiful defenses. The Burians had even made it easy for him by having half their units at the WP, and half at the homeworld, so he outmassed them by over 200% in each battle.  
  
To fully exploit this opportinity for carreer advancement, he used his influence to become military governor of Buria. Now that the Subject World treaty administration was in place, Thrulb's brother would become 'Ambassador' to Buria, and Thrulb himself would go on to the Klagg front, this time not as just as a Battle Commander, but as Fleet Commander of the entire operation.  
  
Thrulb looked out the viewport and saw the specks of light that he knew were ships, barely visible at this distance. Some of them were the new fleet he was to command, others were the remnants of the Buri fleet captured during the war. The burned out hulks left behind after battles involving energy beams (10xDD, 11xCT) had been repaired and refurbished by the Peshf, and were now being sold to the new Buri government, along with a couple of scout EX.  
  
The space station the Peshf had assembled loomed large in the view for a moment. This, too, was being sold to the Subject World, so that they could re-refurbish and then deploy the ships in the service of the Peshf. The old station had self-destructed after the Peshf fleet destroyed its combat modules, denying the conquerors the prizes of the shipyards and their contents (including the incomplete prototype CA).  
  
The gig slowed as it approached the flagship. Fresh from the yards and still shaking down, the CLC Hrin was a monument to Peshf technology. With her improved shields, point defense, and XO racks loaded with sprint missiles, she was also a monument to the technology the Peshf had acquired from the Burians.  
  
Thrulb waited as the pilot gently set the small craft down in the bay. According to the documents he had received, he would have four months cruising to the other side of the empire in order to reach the original Klagg contact point. By that time, the Buri fleet element would be nearly ready to do its part.  
  
The hatch was opened, and Thrulb climbed out to meet his staff.  
  
********  
  
Month 58, Klagg empire  
  
The Klagg home system had two warp points. One led to an orange star with a single hostile planet, and beyond it were two systems each with a single harsh world. In the other direction was Radit, a red giant with three outgoing warp lines, one leading to a starless nexus, one to Djaam system, and the last to Peshf space.  
  
Aside from the home system, Djaam was the richest system in Klagg space. With three asteroid belts, the first system discovered by the Klagg to have multiple terrestrial planets would have been a prize even if surveys had not found both to have benign environments and rich mineral deposits.  
  
Once the planetary survey data came back, the entire Klagg colonization effort had been directed into this system. In a year the Klagg population in Djaam system had swelled from zero to nearly twenty million.  
  
The first survey sweeps of Djaam had found no outgoing warp points, and the survey units had been reassigned to another warp line off the starless nexus. Recently, however, the first CTX units had been assigned to do a resurvey of the system while they waited for the rest of their number to finish refitting.  
  
The CT component of the Klagg fleet was being retired from active service as the first battleships came off the line. Instead of cruisers, destroyers, and corvettes, the three tiers of the Klagg warfleet would now be battleships, cruisers, and destroyers. Instead of mothballing them, though, a decision had been made to outfit the small warships with science instruments and create a survey fleet capable of exploring a lightly defended system during wartime.  
  
Eight CTX circled the system, taking detailed readings. The idea was that since the WP through which the Peshf had entered Klagg space was of the second magnitude, but had not been found by the Klaggs' detailed survey, they may have missed a WP here as well. They didn't know it yet, but they were right.  
  
Month 58, Day 10, Djaam system  
  
In an office adjacent to the bridge on the CTX Fritt, Shiplord Heck was immersed in paperwork (which didn't actually involve paper anymore, just a computer console, but the term remained). The fur on his back and neck bristled as he once again cursed the circumstance that led to his ignoble reassignment. Fritt had been a warship when Heck took command, not a large one, but a part of the Combined Fleet, ready and able to fight for his Warlord and maybe grab some glory along the way. There was no glory to be found out here, measuring gravitic field strength on the outskirts of nowhere.  
  
Heck's career plan had been to use the CT command as a stepping stone to a more prestigious ship, maybe even flag rank. Instead his ship had been reclassified as a survey vessel and he had been exiled to the dim reaches of space.  
  
Heck extended a claw to scratch his muzzle and tried to concentrate on the screen in front of him. Status reports, requisitions, personell files, an endless deluge of mind-numbing forms that were the bane of a Shiplord's existence, but could not safely be delegated to his executive officer. As ambitious as Heck, Shipchief Toam would be only too happy to sabotage his superior in order to advance his own career.  
  
Heck was rescued from this procedural nightmare when his desk comm came to life. "Shiplord to the bridge," came the voice of his second officer, "unknown contact detected."  
  
Heck strode onto the bridge and took his seat. "Report."  
  
Shipchief Gruar extended a claw to point at the amber dot on the viewer. "Long-range sensors have picked up an unknown drive contact headed in- system at five krohar. Distance two light-minutes and closing."  
  
Five krohar was slightly better than the cruising speed of Fritt, about the same as the tactical speed of the new battleships. Heck knew of nothing capable of cruising at such speed, therefore the intruder was moving at tactical speeds toward a Klagg population. This was a clear sign of hostile intent; there was no reason to risk engine burnout when merely probing an unknown system. Maybe there was a chance for glory out here after all.  
  
Heck turned back to Gruar. "Execute general order fourteen."  
  
A tense silence descended on the bridge. In the history of the Combined Fleet, general order fourteen had been triggered exactly once before, when the Peshf survey group had been encountered in Radit system.  
  
Gruar punched some keys on his console. A moment later, a faint thud echoed through the ship, announcing the departure of Fritt's courier drone. At the same time, radionic signals were broadcast throughout the system warning anyone who had a receiver of the arrival of this new threat.  
  
Heck odered the helm to position Fritt right in front of the aliens. Per general orders, the broadcast hail continued, updating any listener on the progress of the intruder, and also warning the intruder that he had been seen and giving away Fritt's location. If they weren't hostile, now would be the time for them to stop and attempt communications.  
  
The minutes dragged by, and the bogey didn't change course or speed. In two minutes the aliens would have picked up Fritt's broadcast, in four they could have responded. Heck wasn't surprised; their tactical speed had already convinced him that they were enemies. He sat silently and watched them close.  
  
Nearly an hour passed, uneventfully except for the arrival of Shipchief Toam onto the bridge, roused from his bed by the alert klaxon. Gruar yielded his place to the first officer, and went to his customary station at the starboard ops console. The range dropped, and Fritt waited.  
  
After a long, tense wait, the enemy passed into Fritt's midrange sensor envelope. Now Heck could see what he faced. 6xDD and 6xCT, not much of a fleet by Klagg standards but obviously way too much for a single corvette to face down. The information was added to the broadcast datastream. Heck bared his fangs and ordered Fritt to come about and move to the side of the enemy's course. If he couldn't stop them, he'd follow them in and keep an eye on them. The enemy maintained course and speed.  
  
Five krohar, Hech mused. A fleet of destroyers should be moving faster, unless they were outfitted with obsolete alpha-generation engines. If they were going to risk engine burnout, it didn't make sense to take half measures, so it was reasonable to conclude that the enemy most likely had only alpha engines. The Klagg evidently had a substantial tech advantage over their new opponent.  
  
Fritt swung into a paralell course, matching the enemy's velocity. Over the next few hours, the enemy corvettes repeatedly tried to run him off, but they were slow and easy to avoid. After a while they got the idea and just ignored him.  
  
********  
  
Month 58, Day 11, Radit System  
  
Warrider Ku was bored. Sitting here watching the warp point to Peshf space was not the Klagg officer's idea of excitement. There had been no activity for seventeen months, aside from the periodic exchange of trade goods and diplomatic couriers, and it didn't seem likely to change anytime soon. Ku just had to endure another month, and then he would be going back to the homeworld and the intrigue of the Council of Clans.  
  
Ku had been assigned to guard this WP since first contact was made with the Peshf. At first the Peshf had seemed very belligerent, claiming the contact system as their own and demanding that the Klagg withdraw. Since the Klagg had already explored and colonized systems beyond it, the Combined Fleet was sent from the adjacent home system to defend the Clans' claim. By the worst luck, this occured while most of the Klaggs' cruisers were in the yards for refit. Still, when Ku arrived with the remaining 2xCA, 14xDD and 28xCT, the Peshf force of 6xFG and 12xES hastily withdrew, leaving a single escort to explain that there must have been a translation error.  
  
After that initial 'misunderstanding' was settled, the Council cautiously entered into a Non-Agression treaty with the Peshf, but remained wary. After eight months of uneventful contact, the Peshf offer of Restricted Trade had been accepted (over the objections of many, including Ku, who considered the Peshf untrustworthy). Ku's fleet strength had been reduced as bases and mines were placed at the warp point. Now that the WP defenses were built up to a comfortable level, and the Peshf trade route was well established, his taskforce would soon be recalled home to receive the third generation refit.  
  
The hiss of the lift door announced Strikechief Thep's entrance. One of Ku's ears turned slightly toward the sound, but he gave no other outward sign of recognition. Ku glanced at the chrono. Eight minutes before shift change, same as always. You could set the chrono by him.  
  
On a normal day, Ku would have handed over command of the bridge to Thep exactly at 18:00 (with Thep it had to be at _exactly_ 18:00). This day, however, would not be normal. Three minutes before Thep would have releived him, one of the bases routed a priority message to Ku's flagship. A moment later, the Warrider was on his feet.  
  
An unknown alien force had entered Klagg space and was threatening the colonies in Djaam system. Ku was to proceed at once to Djaam to respond to this incursion, leaving Strikechief Thep to oversee the WP defenses. While he didn't like leaving the Peshf WP attended only by bases and mines, Ku was eager to see some action again. It had been a long time.  
  
On the way there, he would overtake the second set of CTX refits, already en route to join the resurvey of Djaam. Further reinforcements would be just six days behind him, including both of the finished battleships. Ku's force was the closest, though, so it was up to him to contain the invasion.  
  
********  
  
Month 58, Day 13, Djaam system  
  
Fritt had followed the enemy group for three days. Once they were inside the planets' detection range, Fritt went ahead to join the other three CTX that had gathered at the nearer world, summoned by Fritt's call. The Shiplords had exchanged messages. Though they hated to let a hostile fleet into weapons range of Klagg civilians without a fight, they were outmassed by over 300%. Four more CTX were on their way in from the edges of the system, but would not arrive in time and would not be enough to make a difference if they could.  
  
As the intruders approached the first colony world, the Klagg ships retreated before them, staying outside of the detection range of any non- capital sensors.  
  
On Fritt's bridge Heck watched the relay from the planetary sensor grid. Every civilian ship that could launch scattered and ran for their lives. The enemy fleet surrounded the planet in a blockade formation. Two hapless commercial frieghters were too slow to escape the enemy's weapon range as they encircled the planet, and died in a hail of missile fire from the destroyers.  
  
The blockade tightened its radius, closing in on the planet until it was orbiting at less than a quarter light-second. Intense scans were directed at the defenseless world, but there were no military installations to find. After a few minutes, half of the enemy force split off and set course for the other planet.  
  
Now, Heck thought, the enemy had given him an oppurtunity by foolishly dividing their forces. Within sixteen hours, the arrival of the remaining CTX would bring the scratch defense force to nearly equal the mass of one of the two enemy groups. As the oldest Shiplord present, it fell to Heck to assume tactical command. Heck turned to his comm officer, and began sending out orders.  
  
Month 58, Day 14, Djaam system  
  
The eight Shiplords had exchanged messages, and were ready to engage the enemy. Even though they were outmassed, and half of their weapons had been removed in the recent refit, the enemy's evident tech inferiority and the imperative to protect Klagg civilians emboldened them. Also, each Shiplord recognized the opportunity to rescue their careers from survey oblivion if they drove off the enemy.  
  
Each colony world was surrounded by 3xDD and 3xCT, circling in blockade formation. The defenders formed up 2.1 LM out from the second planet, and began their approach.  
  
On Fritt's bridge Heck watched the shrinking distance between the six amber blips on his screen and the blue dots representing his own force. But before he got anywhere near them, the amber dots began moving away from the planet.  
  
Heck looked a question at his sensor officer. "They're breaking off, my lord," the puzzled crewer reported. The intruders were retreating. Heck paused for a moment, considering. Even if they had capital sensors, they could not know how many or what size ships were approaching. The cowards could be running from a single escort, for all they knew.  
  
Heck ordered his force to full tactical speed and pursued. Soon he got word from the other planet that the enemy group there had also abandoned their siege, and were moving to reunite with their comrades. A few keystrokes on his console told him the enemy would be able to regroup before he could overtake. The two planets' orbital positions were near their closest approach. Heck's force was barely up to fighting half the enemy, all of them at once was too much. De-tuning was the only way to catch them, and doing it for the 10 minutes necessary would surely cause multiple engine failures. The opportunity had passed.  
  
Heck cursed. His hope of distinguishing himself by crushing the enemy in detail faded. At least they would now only be able to blockade one planet. The Klagg ships chased the enemy until they regrouped.  
  
But they surprised him again. Instead of returning to one of the planets, the enemy set course back in the direction from which they had come. Heck followed.  
  
********  
  
Month 58, Day 15, Djaam system  
  
Warrider Ku gritted his teeth, fighting the wave of nausea that always hit him when his ship went through a warp point. Ku carefully maintained his composure; it would not do to let his subordinates see his weakness. Once his stomach had stopped trying to crawl out through his esophagus, Ku swallowed his bile and called for a status report.  
  
The sensors confirmed the area around the WP was clear, showing only Ku's taskforce. In addition to his own flagship, the BCC Khrall, and the assault BC Mahar, he commanded 4xDD, 8xCT, and one capital-sensor DDa, plus the 8xCTX he had overtaken just short of the WP. With this, he was to defend Djaam system, and if possible take the fight to the enemy. He wasn't counting on the CTX to do much, as they were still shaking down from a recent refit which had removed half their weaponry. Still, they might draw some enemy fire, taking some of the heat off ships that mattered more.  
  
Before starting toward the planets, Khrall queried the comm bouy by the WP. As Ku had expected, the colonies had been sending updates to it, and he downloaded the most recent to his console.  
  
The Warrider was pleasantly surprised. The intruders had unexpectedly retreated in the face of wafer-thin opposition. Ku's concern over their aggression melted into contempt for their cowardice. This would be easier than he thought. Clearly the enemy had no stomach for battle.  
  
Twenty ships formed up on Khrall, and began moving toward the inner system at five krohar. A pair of CT was left behind to watch over the warp point.  
  
During the journey, Ku took the time to familiarize himself with what had been learned of the enemy's technology. The engine signature did not match any known race, and it appeared the enemy was limited to alpha engines. The missiles were similar to the basic missiles now being phased out of the Klagg fleet in favor of enhanced or capitol versions. All of the destroyers had shown themselves to be missile-armed, and the fact that the corvettes didn't fire along with them suggested they were beam-armed. The low technology level shown in the enemy's engines and missiles suggested that the destroyers might be their largest and most impressive warships. If that was the case, Ku's capitol-missile cruisers would give them quite a rude awakening.  
  
********  
  
Month 58, Day 25, Djaam system  
  
The enemy were not only cowards, but fools as well. By the time Ku's force had gotten to the planets, reports had come back from the CTX group trailing the intruders, detailing the location of their hidden warp point. The CTX had been following at 7.5 LS, close enough to allow them to pinpoint the WP location when the enemy transited out. The eight CTX had waited nearby, watching the WP, until Ku's force had arrived.  
  
Once Ku's force had invested the WP, he had sent a dozen CTX to probe it. They returned unharmed, reporting no sign of enemy presence. They were running scared. Ku transited his fleet into the aliens' system. Now the CTX would do the job for which they were designed. Ku had not been a proponent of the idea when it was first proposed, but now he was glad to have them.  
  
The Warrider was ready to hand the enemy their heads. In six more days he would add to his fleet 2xBB, 2xCA, and 4xDD, and the newer builds/refits among them would finish their shakedowns just before they arrived. After the long peace, Ku was looking forward to the campaign. As weak and stupid as the enemy was, they would fold like a house of cards before the Klagg fleet, and would soon take their proper place as slaves in the houses of the mighty.  
  
16xCTX moved out into the enemy system, and began their survey.  
  
As soon as they did, the hidden enemy EX came up on scanners. With its engines shut down, the little ship almost escaped detection, but as the CTX spread out, two of them had run almost directly toward it and had picked it up. When Ku sent his CT contingent toward it, it tried to run, but was quickly overtaken. As soon as the Klagg fired a warning shot, the unarmed ship lowered DF and surrendered.  
  
Ku knew the reason the EX had been placed here. From 7.5 LS away, they could not have missed getting the Klagg fleet size and composition, and must have transmitted the information to their comrades before being discovered. So they had gotten their information, but at the same time had given him a prize. Soon the fleet train would arrive with its repair ships, which would take this vessel apart and analyze its data core. Then the enemy would learn the consequences of angering the Klagg empire.  
  
********  
  
Month 59, Day 4, Radit system  
  
The WP to Peshf space was guarded by six battlecruiser-sized bases, positioned 3.75 LS sunward of the WP itself. Around the WP, eight minefields of 15 bouys each were placed, four at 0.5 LS and four at 1.5 LS. The closer mines, armed with bomb-pumped lasers, were deployed in a half- circle on the side opposite the bases. The more distant ones each carried four capital missiles in their external racks, and were placed in a half- circle on the side toward the bases.  
  
All of this was 'just in case' relations with the Peshf turned sour. The anti-Peshf faction in the Clan Council was not strong enough to block the trade treaty, but they did have enough influence to get these defenses placed here.  
  
The trade activity here had been going on so long, one might expect the defenders to become complacent, their vigilance eroded by months of inaction. But not the Klagg. The anti-Peshf faction had arranged for its most fervent adherents to be assigned to these bases, and constant drilling kept them prepared for action. On this day, their mistrust would be proven to be well-founded.  
  
On this day, as on many other days, a small customs ship hovered near the WP, waiting for the scheduled trade shipment to arrive. When eight ships transited the WP, there was no alarm. The 12 HS vessels appeared on the scanner as freighters, and while eight FT was an unusually large number, it was not unprecedented. The Peshf government often awarded special sweetheart contracts to well-connected individuals which gave them an exclusive liscence to trade certain products with the Klagg, often resulting in a whole FT arriving to trade less cargo than they could fit in a single hold.  
  
It took about half a minute for the crew of the customs ship to realize that these freighters were not freighters. The engines were commercial, and the shields and armor had been replaced with cargo holds to make them LOOK like FT, only the armament gave them away.  
  
By the time the alarm was raised, however, more ships were already pouring through. Six light cruisers appeared, facing toward the bases. The ES(FT) split up into pairs and moved to engage the minefields. Previous trade missions had lasted more than long enough for even the standard sensors of common freighters to detect mines within 2.5 LS of the WP, so the Peshf knew where to find them. Each of the four clusters of laser mines was engaged by two ES(FT) firing energy beams from 0.25 LS.  
  
Klagg crewers rushed to battlestations, activating the bases' weapons and AP control systems. Within seconds, two bases each fired a half-dozen kinetic weapons, striking a CL. The target used some unfamiliar defensive weapon to intercept one of the four hits, and the shields blew themselves out absorbing the rest. The cruisers' plasma weapons remained silent for now, waiting for transit effects to subside rather than firing ineffectually and wasting ammo.  
  
At the same time that the kinetics were firing, the laser mines were receiving new orders from the bases' AP control systems. The current program instructed them to ignore units in a 0.75 LS wide corridor leading from the WP to the bases, in order to allow civilian traffic to safely transit, but now new targeting programs were substituted. Seven laser mines were shot down by the ES(FT) before the new programs were implemented, but then all hell broke loose.  
  
In each minefield, six bouys were instructed to fire at targets within 0.25 LS of their position, which meant only the ES(FT). Six more from each field were aimed at the area immediately around the WP, where the cruisers lay. In a flash of unparalelled brilliance, 48 nuclear detonations fueled massive laser bursts, incinerating all of the ES(FT) instantly, and ripping into the cruisers. Each CL lost at least one engine room, and most lost two.  
  
The second wave (not counting the bogus freighters) came in, six frigates each followed closely by an escort, and charged at the bases. The cruisers also made their way toward the bases at their best speed.  
  
The recently transited frigates and escorts had no targets in range to shoot at, so they remained silent for now. Though the cruisers' armor, engines, and XO were damaged, each still had all its internal weapons intact. Each CL shot three plasma torpedoes at the Klagg. Six hits left one base shieldless and with minor armor damage, then four torpedo impacts weakened the shields of a second base.  
  
The reply from the bases was much heavier than before, with five of the six now firing. The two CL still moving at five krohar were targeted by two bases each, and the fifth took aim at the one whose shields had been eliminated by the last volly. Again the strange defensive weapon was used, though not very effectively; of the eighteen shots that were on target, one was intercepted. All three targets took substantial damage, and showed further drive field fluctuations.  
  
Now the second ring of mines was brought into play. 1.5 LS to either side of the line of Peshf ships leading from the warp point to the bases lay fifteen bouys equipped with missile racks. AP control systems on four of the active bases took direct control of them, providing targeting information from the bases' scanners. The three CL which were spared from the kinetic bombardment were soon using their active defenses against a different threat. Each was subjected to the fire of five XO bouys launching a total of twenty capital missiles. Though the defenses were somewhat more effective than against the kinetics, two were destroyed outright and the third deeply wounded.  
  
At the same time, the remaining laser mines were reprogrammed by another base, given a narrowly defined engagement zone in which to look for enemy vessels. The last FG to transit was bitten hard, slowing to four krohar, while its companion ES was flash-fried, leaving only a rapidly expanding ball of incandescent gas.  
  
As the third wave of Peshf ships entered, they found five each of the FG and ES left intact, one wounded FG, and four crippled CL. By now the bases were pretty much active, but the laser mines had been depleted. Four FG-ES pairs came in, followed by two more CL.  
  
The first two FG rushed forward along with the ES, but the last two stayed back and joined the two CL. The crippled cruisers closed to 2.25 LS, optimum range for what little weaponry they had left, and stopped there. The FG-ES force closed rapidly, the foremost elements reaching a range of 0.5 LS before the next exchange of fire. The escorts which were within 1.5 LS jinked at the last second to bring the bases into their side-mounted weapons' arc.  
  
The bases directed their fire at the damaged cruisers of the first wave. Before they died, two of the cripples got off a quick torpedo from their remaining launchers, and the one hit took out already weakened shields of the second base.  
  
As the continuing kinetic bombardment from the bases reduced the rest of the CL group to scrap, the beam ships opened fire. There were two frigates and three escorts in the 0.5-1.0 LS range bracket, and another two of each firing from farther out. They poured their beam fire into a single unshielded base, and directed their XO-mounted nukes at a second. The drive field modulations which had been ineffective against the earlier plasma fire were now a factor, but the extremely tough armor on the bases was useless against the Peshf energy beams. The massed beam fire ran through the internal systems and shorted out most of them, including the EMS module. Of the missiles, eight found their target, weakening the shields of the other base by 80%.  
  
By the time the beams were done ravaging the base, the cruisers of first wave were obliterated, and the laser-damaged FG was slowed further by the fire from the last base. Again, mines were slaved to the controls of the bases that still had AP controls, and most of the remaining mines fired. Five frigates were targeted by four mines each, and five escorts by two mines each. The active defenses the cruisers had used were not evident on these smaller ships. 2xFG and 2xES were killed outright, the rest damaged heavily.  
  
The fourth transit wave came in, four FG-ES pairs and two more CL. As before, the first two FG charged forward with the ES while the other two held back with the cruisers. Mine-damaged beam ships made their best speed toward the bases, and the last wave's plasma ships closed to optimum range, 2.25 LS.  
  
Now that the Klagg had seen what the Peshf energy beams could do, they concentrated fire on the beam-armed ships. Over 50% of the bases' durability was in their armor belts, so these weapons were a major threat. Mass drivers flung shot after shot at the Peshf, as their beams played over the bases.  
  
The bases split their fire, trying to kill mine-damaged ships before their emitters could recharge. All three damaged ES were killed in a single salvo from a Klagg base. Of the damaged frigates, only one got a shot off before dying, incapacitating the damaged base before its weapons cycled.  
  
Again, the new arrivals from the previous wave split their fire, sending beams one way and XO missiles another, accepting a slight degradation in accuracy for both. By the time the close-in shooting was done, the third base was stripped of its remaining shields by the missiles, and the first base had lost half its weapons and its APC module to beam fire. Torpedoes and XO missiles from the now-ignored cruisers and plasma frigates stripped the shields off a fourth base and damaged its armor.  
  
The last of the mines fired, targeting the remaining beam ships. There were 2xFG(e) and 3xES left which were not suffering transit effects. Each received the attention of three or four mines (only one mine for the damaged ES), again courtesy of direct control by the bases' APC. One FG and all three ES were obliterated instantly. The surviving FG was just plain lucky, only five missiles out of sixteen hit it, so its passives and cargo hold absorbed all the damage.  
  
Two minutes after the attack began, only two of the six Klagg bases had their shields up. One had lost shields only, one had moderate armor damage as well. Beam fire had taken half the weapons from one, and rendered the last totally inert. The Peshf had 4xCL and 4xFG(p) in system, intact. 2xFG(e) and 4xES were intact and one damaged FG(e) had lost only its passives and hold. The Peshf had lost 6xCL, 7xFG(e), 10xES, and 8xES(FT), mostly to the mines. There were no mines left.  
  
Six more FG-ES pairs entered, the escorts charging forward as the frigates grouped up near the WP. Fourth wave's arrivals moved into their optimum range, and the survivors of the third wave turned and began modulating their drive fields like crazy, slowing to a crawl.  
  
A fourth-wave FG was about to fire from 1 LS when the kinetics smashed through its defenses and stripped its XO. Before the second salvo could finish it off, the FG's twin particle beams bit into a base, and the base's drive field modulations ceased. Even as the mass drivers slammed their projectiles into the FG, the now-easier target was burned out completely by beam fire, and left drifting. More beams struck at another base, eating into its weapons as a second FG was shattered by the mass drivers.  
  
From 2.25 LS, sixteen plasma torpedoes rained in, accompanied by a few XO missiles. The shields on the two intact bases fell, and minor armor damage was inflicted on them. Now that the way had been paved for the beams, the base with the most damaged armor received the rest of the plasma fire, but still its armor held.  
  
Now that the mines were gone, the Peshf tonnage built up rapidly. A dozen more ES transited to bolster the Peshf strike, and surviving ships from earlier waves switched to EM after reaching their range. Kinetic rounds flew out to meet them, but the battle was increasingly one-sided. In thirty seconds, one base was destroyed by missiles and torpedoes, and two more were left beam-ravaged hulks. The cost to the Pehf was a mere two ES. One more salvo, and it was over. The base's last gasp inflicted further damage on the sole surviving FG(e), leaving it weaponless. Then the particle beams fried it.  
  
The total cost to the Peshf to take the WP was 6xCL, 9xFG(e), 12xES, 8xES(FT), and one crippled FG(e). Five of the six bases were salvageable. A drone was sent back through the WP to proclaim the success of the assault, and call forth the fleet train.  
  
********  
  
Month 59, Day 4, Djaam system  
  
At the WP leading back to Radit, a lonely pair of CT stood guard. As commercial frieghters fled the system, their IFF was polled and DF signature was scanned to insure no enemy ships sneaked past. The two ships were scheduled to have gone in for refit next month, had the war not erupted and changed everyone's plans. The crews were just as glad to be here, though, instead of being relegated to mere survey duty.  
  
The Klagg crewers were alert, keeping watch for an enemy which might be lurking about behind the lines. Sensors were kept running hot, searching the sky for any sign of DF activity.  
  
They found it. Operating in stealth mode, creeping up on the WP as though they thought they would not be detected. Warnings were sent in both directions, using the comm bouy as a relay. The corvettes waited for the enemy to come closer, so they could see how large the force was. When the range dropped down to 8 LS, The contact shifted to tactical and charged in at full speed, seven krohar. Four frigates bore down on the picket, and the picket withdrew through the warp point (after sending an update to the inner system).  
  
On the other side, the two ships ran in the direction opposite the way home. At 7 LS they held station and watched. The enemy came through the WP, as the two watched. The FG group blasted the comm relay bouy on this side, as they presumably had on the other. After an unsuccessful attempt to chase down the corvettes, which were as fast as they, the FG returned to the WP and sent on of their number back across. They settled in to wait, and the two CT resumed their station 7 LS away, watching the watchers.  
  
End chapter 3  
  
Klagg BS3(k)  
  
Sx10 A1x30 HQb(APCa)QbKbKb(M2)KbQbKb(?a)KbYeKbQb  
  
Sx10 A1x30 Kbx6 (APCa)  
  
Cost: 1,008.0  
  
Peshf CL(pt)  
  
S1x6 Ax4 ZaHsMgsQaMg(J)(JJ)MgPtaDa  
  
PtaQa(J)(JJ)MgYaPtaQa(J)(JJ) (XOa x6)  
  
S1x6 Ax4 Ptax3 XOx6 Dax1 (Ja)  
  
Peshf FG(pt)  
  
S1x6 Ax3 ZaHsMgs(J)Mg(J)(J)YaPtaQb(J)(J) (XOa x3)  
  
S1x6 Ax3 Ptax1 XOx3 (Ja)  
  
Peshf FG(e)  
  
S1x6 Ax3 H(J)(J)(J)EbEbQb(J)(J) (XOa x3)  
  
S1x6 Ax3 Ebx2 XOx3 (Ja)  
  
Peshf ES(e)  
  
S1x3 AH(J)(J)QaEb(J) (XOa x1)  
  
S1x3 Ax1 Ebx1 XOx1 (Ja)  
  
Peshf ES(FT)  
  
HHHHQaEb(icIc)  
  
Hx4 Ebx1 (Ica) 


End file.
